Mohare Danda is a ridge at 3,300 m west of Ghorepani, and the trail to it is the most successful community tourism project in Nepal. Every lodge on the route is owned by the villages it passes through, built with solar power and improved stoves, and run by a committee that puts the profits into local schools and health posts.
It is also a good trek on its own terms: a long ridge walk with Dhaulagiri I, Annapurna South, Annapurna I, Nilgiri and Machhapuchhre in view, through farming country that sees almost no trekkers, with gentler days than anything comparable in the region.
The Trek at a Glance
| Duration | 10 days from Kathmandu, 6 days from Pokhara |
| Highest point | Mohare Danda, 3,300 m |
| Difficulty | Easy to moderate — gentler daily stages than most Annapurna routes |
| Best seasons | March to May, October to December |
| Accommodation | Community-owned lodges and village homestays |
| Permits | Annapurna Conservation Area Permit and trekking registration |
| Traffic | Very low |
We run it as a 10-day trek from Kathmandu and a 6-day version from Pokhara.
The Route
The trail runs through the Myagdi and Parbat hills west of the main Annapurna trekking corridor, following ridges and farming villages rather than a river valley.
- Galeshwor or Beni to Banskharka — a drive to the road head, then up through terraced farmland and villages where the lodges are the community's own.
- Banskharka to Nangi — the project's original village, with a school, a paper-making workshop, and a long history of community enterprise.
- Nangi to Mohare Danda (3,300 m) — up through oak and rhododendron forest onto the ridge, where the lodge sits on the crest with a dawn panorama from Dhaulagiri round to Machhapuchhre.
- Mohare to Danda Kharka and Ghorepani — a high ridge traverse, joining the main Poon Hill trail for the last stretch if the itinerary includes it.
- Down to Tikhedhunga or Tadapani — and out to the road for Pokhara.
Sunrise at Mohare Danda is the highlight: a ridge at 3,300 m with nothing in front of it, the whole western Annapurna and Dhaulagiri skyline turning gold, and perhaps four other people on the ridge. It is the Poon Hill experience without the platform.
How the Community Project Works
The project grew out of the Annapurna Community Development Organisation in Nangi, founded by a local teacher who returned from abroad to build a school. Over two decades it has built the lodge network, a paper workshop, micro-hydro power, and one of the earliest rural computer networks in Nepal.
- Ownership. Lodges belong to village committees rather than individuals.
- Revenue. A fixed share of lodge income goes to the school and health post funds.
- Employment. Staff rotate from member households, so income is distributed rather than concentrated.
- Design. Solar lighting, solar water heating, rainwater harvesting, and improved stoves that cut firewood use.
- Food. Largely grown in the villages the trail passes, which is unusual on a Nepali trekking route at this altitude.
This matters practically as well as ethically: the lodges are well-built and well-run, the food is fresh, and the welcome in a village that owns its own lodge is different from the welcome in a commercial teahouse.
Who It Suits
- Trekkers who want culture as much as mountains. You spend the week in working villages rather than on a lodge corridor.
- Families and older walkers. Gentler daily stages, lower altitude, and warm lodges.
- Winter visitors. At 3,300 m this works well in December and January, with superb visibility.
- Anyone uncomfortable with the Poon Hill crowd who still wants the Dhaulagiri skyline at dawn.
- Travellers who want their money to do something. This is the clearest case in Nepal.
One more thing worth knowing: the villages on this route are working farming communities rather than lodge settlements, so the day has a different texture. You pass people cutting millet, carrying fodder, and running a paper workshop, and the lodge you sleep in is staffed by households taking their turn. Several of our guests have described it as the first trek where they talked to Nepali people rather than about them.
Who should look elsewhere: trekkers chasing altitude or drama. Mohare Danda tops out at 3,300 m and the mountains are distant rather than overhead. For closer peaks, Mardi Himal or Annapurna Base Camp; for a higher ridge with the same ethos, Khopra Danda.
Combining It
- Mohare plus Khopra Danda — the two community projects linked into a longer circuit of village-owned lodges. The best version of this trek, if you have a fortnight.
- Mohare plus Poon Hill — the standard itinerary already joins the Ghorepani trail, so the Poon Hill sunrise is an easy addition.
- Mohare plus Annapurna Base Camp — possible by continuing from Ghorepani through Tadapani into the Sanctuary, making roughly a two-week trip.
- Mohare as an acclimatisation week — gentle and low, and a genuinely pleasant way to spend the week before a higher trek.
Ask us for any of these. The community lodges can be booked as part of any Annapurna itinerary rather than only as a standalone trek.
